Maybe. But I don’t care anymore.
After Charlotte’s come to Jesus talk last night, I laid in bed rehashing everything she said. Especially the part about trying so hard to prove myself. I’ve been busting my ass for the Magnolia Blue for almost half my life. And for what?
At first, I was hellbent on proving to Hank that I was more than a punk-ass kid with an attitude. I worked my fingers to the bone day in and day out for years before I realized the only person I’d ever had to prove anything to was myself. Hank had never doubted me. And he’d never given me reason to think he did. I’d projected my own doubt onto him, just like I’d done with my aunt when I’d first come to Mason Creek.
I was the one fighting against myself every day, falsely believing that if I did just a little more or worked a little harder, the people around me would appreciate me enough to fill the void I had in my chest.
The void that never healed after my mom and dad died, because I was a hard-headed kid who refused to acknowledge it.
I did okay until Terry died. And I managed to keep the pain at bay until Hank passed, too. But at some point, after losing them both, I lost sight of the progress I made. I started to believe the old lies I’d fed myself, and when I couldn’t buy the ranch, those false beliefs locked tight around my heart once again.
Until Tessa inserted herself into my life and started to chip away at those walls.
“Please say something,” she pleads from the passenger seat as I push the gas pedal harder, my truck barreling down the highway toward the ranch.
“This isn’t gonna be pretty, sweetness.” I grip the steering wheel tighter. “He’s probably called Holden, who’ll probably be here by morning.”
“Good.” She lifts her chin defiantly. “Then they can both hear what I have to say. And if they think for one second they’re going to fire you as punishment, they have another think coming.”
I give a begrudged laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but they own the ranch. If they want me gone, there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”
“My Uncle Miles is still an investor. I’ll talk to him. He’s a reasonable guy.”
“He isn’t an investor anymore, Tess.” I glance over at her before focusing on the road again. “Your brothers bought him out when Kaden came on board.”
“Oh.” She wrings her hands together as the moonlight plays across her face through the passing trees. “Well, I’m not playing their games, that’s for damn sure. I’m not walking away from this, and if they think they can manipulate us into doing what they want by dangling your job over your head, then they will be the ones I cut out of my life.”
“Tessa…”Fuck. “I won’t let you do that.”
“Excuse me?” She recoils. “You may be my husband, but you don’t get to tell me what I will and won’t do either. This isn’t the 1950s.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I grit out. “I’ve lost too many people I care about to let you go through the same.”
“Then you should understand why this is important to me.”
“I do. I just…” I won’t be the reason the McMurrays fall apart, even if her brothers do cut their ties with me. “Some of this battle isn’t yours to fight, babe. Whether you like it or not, there are certain rules between men. And I broke one of them.”
“Ohplease,” she spits. “You haveallpicked the wrong woman to play that game with.”
I shrug and pull up to the ranch, where Kaden paces back and forth beside his truck with his phone stuck to his ear. Carly stands back just beyond my headlights, chewing the hell out of her bottom lip.
“Take her in the house. She doesn’t need to be out here, getting worked up.”
Tessa’s only response is a firm glare before she hops out of the truck, marches straight up to Kaden, and shoves him. Hard.
“Freaking Neanderthal,” she yells. “You, too, Holden. I know you can hear me.”
Kaden’s jaw clenches, but he says nothing as she spins on her heels and grasps Carly’s arm, tugging her to the house. When the front door closes behind them, I slide out from behind the wheel and face my fate.
“You want to hear it from him yourself?” Kaden barks into the phone before he put the call on speaker. “Tell him, Langston. Tell him what the fuck you did.”
Sighing, I lean back against my grill. “You already told him, Kaden. No sense in repeating it.”
Holden bites off a string of expletives on the other end of the line. “Why? Why the hell would you do this? Please tell me there’s a good reason other than you’re just fucking around with my sister.”
I shake my head. “I care about her. A fucking lot. That’s why.”
Kaden growls. “Bullshit. You saw her as an opportunity.”
